/midpol/ - Politically (Mis)Informed

Oh boy, can't wait for the inevitable generations of samefaced popstars, hollywood actors and animu characters with bright bubblegum hair and freakishly huge eyes. The future is going to look like one big shitty cosplay convention.

Genetic Engineering & NanoBioTechnology

We are rapidly approaching an era when it may not only be possible but also insuppressible that people will be able to modify their genes at low cost.

>Genetic engineering is probably the area of systems biology about which the general public has most awareness. One of its sets of tools is CRISPR, a genome-editing system that enables scientists to change the expression of genes in living cells.

>Genetic engineering is currently an immature and imprecise science. Scientists cannot forecast all the impacts of a particular genetic modification. They do know, however, that many modifications come with strings attached. For instance, a genetic modification to establish HIV resistance would also increase susceptibility to West Nile Virus, not to mention that the changes are permanent and heritable.

>“It has been only about a decade since we first read the human genome,” MIT biology professor Eric Landers said. “We should exercise great caution before we begin to rewrite it.”

>But with investment in CRISPR/Cas9 in the billions, the technological problems with genetic engineering will soon be solved, and gene editing will be used not just to fix but also to improve our bodies and minds. Parents might choose their child’s hair color, athleticism or intelligence, heralding in the era of “designer babies.”

>Many fear that when we can select our children’s traits, humanity will be commoditized and therefore subject to the pitfalls of capitalism — that marketers will influence “genetic fashion trends” and that the costs of genetic enhancement will further divide the poor and the rich. But few, if any, technologies ever start out cheap and accessible. Only with years of market demand and innovation does price go down and supply go up. Genetic technologies are no exception.

>Even if designer babies lead to intellectual inequality among the population, this inequality is not inherently bad. Smarter kids would grow into better scientists, engineers, doctors and teachers. “Generosity genes” and other altruistic alterations could make for better citizens.

>Fixing the genetic lottery may take some of the variety out of life, but improving a child’s life is more important. We’ve controlled the genomes of many species in one way or another for decades to stabilize and improve them. From corn to cattle, genetic engineering is central to our well-being. Controlling our own genes would be a good next step.

https://archive.is/U2HqF

A comprehensive system of Genetic Engineering necessarily includes Molecular engineering.

>The field called synthetic biology is all about improving on Mother Nature, creating components of living things that evolution hasn’t. In two studies published in Cell on Thursday, scientists reported doing just that: They synthesized new forms of a molecule that stretches from the inside of a cell to the outside. In so doing, they took a step toward improving on a new cancer therapy that is shaking up oncology.

https://archive.is/hZfFV

In decades to come, however much the well meaning worry about the nefarious applications of gene editing, the needs of the sick will continue to drive science and medicine forward - as they should.

>>803

Didier Raoult of Aix-Marseille University in France and his colleagues discovered a new kind of virus lurking inside single-celled protozoans back in 2003. Like other viruses, it couldn’t grow on its own, lacking the biochemical machinery to build proteins and genes. Instead, it had to infect host cells and use their material to produce new viruses.

But this new virus was enormous, measuring hundreds of times bigger than any previously known virus. What’s more, it was far more complex. Typical viruses may have just a few genes. The new virus had over 900 — more than many species of bacteria.

Since then, Raoult and his colleagues have found over 150 different kinds of giant viruses all over the world, in oceans, mountains, and the bodies of animals (including our own). One kind of giant virus contains over 2,500 genes.

Exactly what giant viruses do with all those genes has remained mostly a mystery.

But on Monday, Raoult and his colleagues reported in Nature that some of those genes provide giant viruses with something never observed before in a virus: They have an immune system, one that works a lot like the CRISPR system in bacteria that scientists have co-opted as a powerful gene editing tool.

>the potential for such a system to be harnessed for genetic control is intriguing

>Raoult and his colleagues first discovered that giant viruses get infected with viruses of their own back in 2008.

These so-called virophages slip inside the giant viruses and hack their biochemistry, much as the giant viruses do to their own protozoan hosts.

>One of these virophages, called Zamilon, infects a type of giant virus known as a mimivirus. But when Raoult and his colleagues unleashed Zamilon on closely related strains of mimiviruses, they were surprised to find that it couldn’t infect them.

>It appeared as if the giant viruses could defend themselves against their enemies.

Raoult and his colleagues wondered if giant viruses were using a CRISPR-like defense system against Zamilon. To their surprise, they found that resistant giant viruses carried small pieces of the virophage’s DNA in their own genomes. When they searched the DNA that surrounded the Zamilon sequences, they found a gene that unwinds DNA, and another that slices it.

>The scientists hypothesized that giant viruses used these two genes to chop up Zamilon DNA. To test that idea, they silenced each of the genes. Now, the giant viruses became vulnerable, and Zamilon was able to infect them.

>Raoult and his colleagues have dubbed this stretch of giant virus DNA MIMIVIRE, short for “mimivirus virophage-resistance element.” They propose that it serves as an immune system, although they have yet to determine how the giant virus recognizes virophages and directs enzymes to attack it.

“What we know is that it’s critical,” said Raoult. “If you silence the genes, it doesn’t work anymore.”

Raoult said that like CRISPR, MIMIVIRE might be worth investigating as another potential gene editing tool: “It is different, so it may have different applications.”

Even if that search bears no fruit, Raoult thinks that MIMIVIRE is important for what it says about the evolution of giant viruses.

https://archive.is/9lev1